Craving Touch
by Butterflywriter
Summary: Bucky is back and the Avengers Social Media Director decides to help him get used to being touched, without being hurt. But when Bucky realizes that he wants the comfort of touch he's nit sure how to ask for it.
1. Chapter 1

When Bucky first arrived at the tower everyone gave him a wide berth, no one wanted to be the one to set him off but after a day of watching everyone shy away from him she noticed no one touch him. He never initiated touch. Not even Steve. Hmmm. She asked Tony to get her any recored media they had on him and stayed up far, far too late watching every video to see if anyone had touched him without the intent to hurt him. The answer she concluded at 4:30 in the morning was no. But now how to go about reintroducing this to him? She knew the studies show human touch is important but did she simply start patting his shoulder? He hadn't been given a lot of choice ,should she ask permission? Would he even understand and grant permission? Her thoughts kept her up even later. By the time her alarm went off she had had a woefully small amount of sleep and staggered into the kitchen to find the largest coffee mug available. She had come to the conclusion that she would ask Bucky's permission before any touch was attempted but unfortunately her sleepless brain pre-coffee forgot last nights conclusion and made her way down the Morning Hug Line.

She had always been an affectionate person, hugs daily from her parents. They had actually started the MHL when she was younger, her parents and later grandparents would stand in a line and get a morning hug before breakfast. The tradition had started at the Tower when she was once again exhausted and in need of coffee and Tony and Pepper happen to be standing next to each other and she had hugged both of them on her way to the coffee. After a few sips of the black nectar she had realized that they were staring at her, which lead to an explanation and the next morning Clint and Tony were standing in front of the coffee demanding hugs. As the weeks went on whoever was in the Tower would line up and get a morning hug.

This morning was no different. Steve, Clint, Natasha, Bruce and Sam were all in aline talking when she entered and stumbled her way over to the team, giving hugs that maybe used some of their uprightness to help her along to the coffee, but who would tell on her? When she got to the coffee there was a human figure to her left, out of the way of the line who had not gotten a hug yet. She stumbled over to the darkly dressed person and gave them a heavy hug, vaguely aware of the stiffness in their body before staggering over to the elixir of life.

After half a cup she looked at those around her and saw the tension in their bodies as they watch both her and the person she was leaning on the counter next too. Confusion caused her to scrunch her eyebrows as she turned to see who they were staring at. Bucky was standing, very stiffly, next to her, staring at her. She then realized what had happened. She had hugged Bucky. She had stumbled over to him, thrown her body into him in a hug, without assigning or warning him. And was still alive.

"Morning," She gave a small smile and went back to her coffee. She had made a mistake, yes. But he hadn't and she really, really hoped that if she played it off as cool, that she was just treating the brainwashed assassin like everyone else everything would be fine. And it was. Well, the forever long lecture from both Captain America and the Black Widow hadn't been fun and the thumbs up from Tony didn't really help, but when Bruce said that what she was doing really would help and Sam backed him up on that (ok, so that not what they really said, but it was basically that….ish) they let her do her thing. Ish. After the coffee incident she was a lot better at pre approved touch, basically she would tell him she was going to touch his shoulder and gave him time to move, most the time he didn't which she counted as a win.

When Bucky had been living at the Tower for 8 months he realized that he craved human contact but he had no idea how to get it. He would spar with Steve but it wasn't the same, during their sessions he had to focus on the fight. But no one other then Steve would touch him at all, except her. He had start to make sure he was in the kitchen every morning before she woke up to make certain that he was there for Morning Hug Line, but other then that he didn't know how to tell her that he just wanted to be touched without fear of being punished. He also didn't know why he wanted it so much.

She walked into the common room after a very, very long and very, very stressful day at work. Some days she hated being the Social Media Coordinator for the Avengers, mostly those days coincided with Pepper's out of country business trips and Tony was left unsupervised. But her day was _finally_ over and she could sit and watch a movie and eat ice cream and bully someone into a cuddle. That was the great/sad thing about the Team, they were all touch deprived and always up for cuddles. As she brought her ice cream into the room she noticed the TV on low and knew her soon to be cuddle partner was already watching something. Let see, it was baseball and a very low volume setting, must be Steve. Oh good, Steve gave great cuddles.

She walked around the couch and it was not Steve sitting there with a beer in his hand but rather Bucky sitting stiffly on the couch holding a water bottle. She hesitated just a moment before sitting on the seat next to him. She waited another moment before she spoke up.

"I know this is really awkward and odd but I had a really bad day at work and I usually make someone cuddle with me after a a bad day and I was wondering if you would cuddle? If you don't want to you don't have too I'll just text someone to come down, but I thought since you were already here it might be ok?" She must be officially crazy. But she waited to see what would happen. They both waited, she waited for his answer and he wanted to see if that is what she really meant. Soon, ever so slowly Bucky lifted his arms slightly before setting them down again.

"I don't know how." His confession was barely a whisper, but it brought tears to her eyes.

"I'll teach you." She told him, just as quietly.

At the end of the baseball game Steve walked in looking for his sparing partner that was very late for their match and found Bucky wrapped around their social media directer both asleep with slight smiles on their faces. It was then Steve knew that Bucky was going to make it, but more then that, he was going to be just fine.

Of course there was a time or two when Steve questioned that thought. Like now for instance. It was Bucky's third mission out with the team, they had all agreed (mostly) that he was ready to get out there and do good. Ok so maybe it was mostly Steve wanting to have his best friend by his side again, but the first two missions had gone well. that had to mean something, right? Steve looked across the plane at the Winter Solider. It wasn't Bucky or even James sitting there, the mission had go so bad the the assign had taken over. Sam switched from worry about Bucky to anger against Steve depending on who he was looking at, but everyone mostly just watched to see what would happen next, hoping that everything would be alright.

Bucky sat on the plane, using everything in him to keep the Solider away. The mission had been bad, really bad and all he wanted to do was let the Solider out and stop feeling. But he couldn't. He had worked too hard to give in. All he could thing about was getting back and holding Her. She said cuddles after a bad day was the key. He need touch. He needed to be comforted. He needed a safe place to break down. He needed to keep it together until they got back to base. Get back to base. Get back to base. Get back to base. Over and over. Remind and remember. Get back to base. Get back to base.

The moment the jet gave the final slowing for landing Bucky was out the forced open door with most the team chasing after him, afraid of where he was heading. Through the doors that would no longer hand correctly, past the kitchen to the room where he knew she would be, the common room. The room where the Tv was that she would have been watching their progress from and keeping tabs on the internet and press. Where she always sat and waited for those who were ready for a hug and a 'welcome home'. He was ready now. He needed it now. And he didn't think about asking or how to go about it, but just knowing he needed to the comfort and safety of her arms.

When he entered the room, he vaulted over the back of the couch, dropped next to her on the seat and gathered her into his arms.

She was jolted awake when the seat bounced and she was suddenly pulled from her soft, warm spot to a hard, cold upright position. She was quickly aware of the iron grip around her waist and across her back, as well as the mop of brown hair covering the weight that was against her neck. The next thing she registered was the smell. Male locker room, gun powder and the unmistakable scent of blood. But then she realized the arm around her waist was metal and that meant Bucky. She had watched the footage and was updated by JARVIS so she knew how pear shaped the mission had gone. It then clicked that Bucky had rushed into the room like a bat out of hell. She wiggled her arms out of his grip, that tightened at her assumed protest, and wrapped her arms around him as tightly as she could when the team burst around the corner. You could see the tension drain out of the room when the team realized that The Winter Solider had, in fact, not made an appearance. The team wasn't surprised when tears started to fall down her face, it wasn't a terribly unusual sight, as much as they all hated it, but what they didn't know, and she wouldn't tell them, was her tears were brought on by the salt water she felt on her shoulder. And she realized in that moment, she was his safe place.


	2. Chapter 2

**So I had this idea for a bit of a sequil/ continuation :) Enjoy**

The sun shone thought the window of the common room into the kitchen as the Morning Hug Line got longer and longer. Bucky positioned himself at the end of the line, right next to the coffee, know the last in line got the longest hug. He had perfected his positioning over the last few weeks to get optimal hug time. It was the best way to start the morning and days where she was out of the tower and there was no M.H.L. he always felt off.

Movement was heard from the hallway in the direction of her room, but it wasn't the usual shuffle of bare feet but determined steps in socks. She walked into the room in rumpled business clothes and, as Bucky had guessed, socked feet. Most the occupants in the room looked down at her feet because usually the only two options in her opinion were barefoot or shoes, socks were in line shuffled a bit under her glare.

"Everyone in the meeting room. Now."

The Avengers looked around at each other and slowly followed her to the meeting room. Bucky faltered at the change in routine but followed the rest to the what was lovingly called the command center. He was the last one in and chose to lean against the wall in a corner. She stood at the head of the table with her arms crossed and glared down the room of superheroes. It didn't matter that she was shorter than almost everyone in the room or only had a small number of self defense classes under her belt, she glared at them with the intensity that made nearly everyone squirm or forced themselves not too.

"Jarvis, is anyone functioning under the Humpty Dumpty protocol?" She looked up at the ceiling while the others look around at each other wondering what she was talking about.

"No, no one at the moment is functioning with in protocol perimeters." Jarvis replied after a brief moment.

"Thank you." She took a deep breath "Which of you SOB's showed Steve Twitter and taught Bucky Instagram?" She asked in a deathly calm voice as she raised her eyebrows in a very Natasha move and looked around the room. Tony perked up and went to pull out his phone but was instantly stoped.

"I swear to Pepper, if you pull out your phone and search them I will lock you out of your workshop for a month." A death glare was sent and returned before Tony folded his arms and pouted in his chair. Wanda slowly started to raise her hand.

"Put your hand down Wanda, I happen to know exactly where you were last night and it wasn't with Steve or Bucky." She looked around the room again. "Tony and Wanda you may leave."

Bucky wasn't sure he had ever seen Wanda move so fast but Tony seemed to settle into his chair.

"I think I want to see this play out." He smirked up at their Social Media Director. The look she gave him was worthy of Pepper.

"Who taught them?" She looked around the room again. Steve was looking very directly right past her left side and Bucky looked a little off center. Sam looked like a kid in the candy shop but a little afraid of touching, Bruce was sipping his tea, Sam was itching to look at his phone, Clint was looking everywhere but her and Natasha was staring her down.

"Nat, Clint, do you have something you want to tell me?" She waited for an answer.

"Aw, I only showed Cap what twitter was, that's it. He found the politicians on his own!" Clint looked up at her and spread his hands out in an 'I'm innocent' manner. She closed her eye and took a deep breath.

"You may go, but rest assured we will be talking later." She shouted the last part of the sentence as Clint bolted out the door. "Everyone else may leave. Steve, Bucky please wait for me outside I have a few things to discuss with you. Natasha please stay, I would like to have a word with you." The remaining Avengers shuffled out, Steve and Bucky leaned against the hall walls outside the room as the door closed.

Natasha looked up at the woman before her, clearly taking deep breaths in an attempt not to scream.

"Why, why for the love of god would you teach them this? Hm? Why would you show Bucky Instagram? Don't I have enough on my plate with Tony and Wanda, And Clint? Why would you teach my Artifacts about social media!" The pacing began and her hands lost their years of training to stay still and clam and started to add to the conversation. "I thought we were friends. You basically have free reign over your social media, I only check like twice a month, if that. I thought we were in a good place. We go out to brunch, have coffee, go shopping. We were good, I could trust you on the internet. But then you go and do this. Do you know what I did, all night? Do you? I was up all night long putting out fires caused by Captain America getting political on Twitter. Talking down world leaders, World. Leaders. Because Brooklynboy1917 is taking a very loud and pushy stand on _very_ hot issues. Not only that, but I then had to try to scrape back together the Avengers image because TheWinterSoldier posted 17 butt pictures of the team. SEVENTEEN PICTURES OF THE AVENGERS ASSES. Then goes on to post pictures of the randomness things that are no where near approved public images. AND captioned on 'I'd tap that'" She took a deep breath but was silenced by Nat's voice.

"Sounds like this is a talk you need to be having with the boys." She could tell Nat was annoyed and didn't like being reprimanded.

"Oh, trust me. I'll be talking with them too. But you, you knew better. You knew what would happen. Why didn't you just show them Tumblr and let them create an anonymous account that I could pretend didn't exist like yours and Tony's and they could just troll. Why create a public social media platform?" Another deep breath was taken and her shoulders were thrown back. "I know that you could kill me in 85 different ways, but this is my job and my responsibility. Because I could trust you, you had been given a freer range online, but starting right now all your post, comments, likes and online presence comes through me. You are now under the Iron Ass protocol and everything has to have my approval before it will post. I am also putting the ballet studio on lockdown for two weeks and you will not have access, if you try to work around this protocol I will have Jarvis take away your classical music privileges. Am I understood?"

Nat stood up her fists clenched, "What is stopping me from removing you from your job right now?"

"Besides the 200 plus pound man stand outside the door looking like murder on a stick? Because I'm the best there is at my job. Because if I'm suddenly not working, who is going to take care of the Avengers image? You? Your too busy saving the world. Because since I started working I have raised the image and public view and support of the Avengers by 375% and if it weren't for me those stupid Sokovia Accords would have passed. So, yes I am stoping you from suddenly removing me from my job and so help me, you will follow your punishment. You may leave." She watched as Nat slowly stood and walked out of the room. As soon as Nat turned the corner she sank into the nearest chair and let out a deep breath. "Jarvis, make sure I stay alive for the next few months, ok?"

She looked up at the light knock on the door frame and saw worried Steve leaning against the door and nervous Bucky looking out from behind the doorway.

"You can come in now." The two men slowly walked into he room and Bucky took a seat but Steve tried to defuse the situation and went for a hug. Now this move had proven in the past to put her into a better mood when she was upset about something, not today however.

"Do not touch me."

If Bucky had been in a trolling mood he would have smirked at the 134 pound mess sitting in a crumpled pant suit causing Captain America to shrink into a conference chair, but he wasn't and didn't; he sunk himself further into his seat.

"I know this probably wasn't the best way to make my debut into the world of social media, but I really-"

"Oh, yeah? Not the best way to make your debut. What gave you that impression? Was it the 20 tweet long rant on woman's pay equality? Or maybe the debate you got into with three leaders in the East, or maybe the argument with a number of our own politicians on their stances on more that one issue, OR MAYBE it was the use of cuss words and derogatory terms used in and out of context that most the country didn't even know Captain America even knew! WHICH OF THESE THINGS TIPPED YOU OFF?" She started to rub her forehead to try to wipe the headache away. "I have worked very hard for years to make sure the Avengers had a positive public image, I have pleaded, twisted, begged, and threatened many people, including people on the team, to make sure that we stay where we need to so you can do what you need to do. But last night was one of the hardest nights of my time here. I have not slept in 36 hours. I have had to put out multiple fires and we have lost support. I'm going to have to put in days of work to fix the few hours of uncensored political rants you enjoyed last night. You are being placed under the Iron Ass Protocol, which means that nothing will post until _I_ personally approve it, not comments, likes, or anything, it all comes through me first. Until you can prove that you will play nice with the internet I am in charge of approving your posts. I will send over guides for you to read through so you know what you can and can not post. Please do not make my life more of a hell then you already have. Have I made myself clear?" She looked up at a steaming Steve. She could see the righteous anger simmering under the surface ready to explode out so she stood to try to defuse the situation. "I understand you are angry, freedom of speech will be your biggest issue with me at the moment, but right now? You are going to agree to my guidelines, walk out of the room, beat up some poor punching bag and when you calm down we can have a conversation. Have I made myself clear?" She watched as another Avenger stalked out of the room in complete vexation. After yet another deep breath she turned to the Russian trained assassin trying to hide in his chair. She trudged over to him and motioned for him to straighten up. After some hesitation he did so and was surprised at what happened next. Instead of the tongue lashing he was anticipating she crawled into his lap and hid her face in his neck. Bucky froze for a few moments before slowly wrapping his arms around her like she had taught him. He felt her sigh and curl closer to him, he held her tighter finally finding the balance he had been looking for all morning.

"Why do they do this? Why do they hate me?" Her muffled voice drifted up from under his chin. He simply held her tighter. "Before I simply pass out, do you know what 'I'd tap that' means in modern slang." She waited until she felt the shake of his head. "It means you would like to have sex with that person." She felt her pillow tense up and swore she felt the rumble of a growl. A grin made it's way to her face and she relaxed against him. "When I wake up I'll explain some stuff to you and show you what you can and can't post on social media, because you basically broke the whole of the internet with your post of Steve's ass as he worked out with your comment."

But as Bucky looked down at the sleeping girl in his arms he wasn't sure he wanted to learn if this was going to be the result of a wrong post.

 **I love comments!**


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